After starting the NHL season with six consecutive games at Rogers Place, the Edmonton Oilers won their first road outing of 2022-23 on Wednesday (Oct. 26) when they defeated the St. Louis Blues 3-1 at Enterprise Center.
Ryan Nugent-Hopkins scored a milestone goal, Jesse Puljujarvi got a much-needed goal, and Zach Hyman potted an empty-netter for the Oilers, who were backstopped to victory by a standout performance from goalie Stuart Skinner.
The win was Edmonton’s second in a row after dropping three of the prior four games. With the Oilers now back above .500 at 4-3-0, here are four takeaways from their fourth win of the season.
Nugent-Hopkins Joins the 200 Club
In the immediate moment, Nugent-Hopkins’ goal with 6:16 to play in the third period was a huge one, as it broke a 1-1 tie and proved to be the game-winner of this low-scoring affair.
In historical context, the goal was even bigger, as it was the 200th time Nugent-Hopkins has tallied for Edmonton in his NHL career. He is just the ninth player in franchise history to score 200 goals as a member of the Oilers, and places the unassuming forward among legendary company.
Related: Ryan Nugent-Hopkins Is an All-Time Great Edmonton Oiler
The Oilers’ 200 club includes five members of the Hockey Hall of Fame – Glenn Anderson, Paul Coffey, Wayne Gretzky, Jari Kurri, and Mark Messier – as well as Ryan Smyth, who will be an inaugural inductee into the Oilers Hall of Fame on Nov. 3.
The other three are all current Oilers: Leon Draisaitl, Connor McDavid, and Nugent-Hopkins. Draisaitl and McDavid both scored their 200th career goals last October, early in the 2021-22 season.
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It can’t be overstated how remarkable it is to have three 200-goal scorers with the Oilers on the team at the same time. The last time that was the case in Oil Country was the 1989-90 season, when Anderson, Kurri, and Coffey were on Edmonton’s roster. And that, it’s worth noting, is also the last time the Oilers won the Stanley Cup.
Oilers Start Strong on the Road
Wednesday’s game was the first on the road for the Oilers, who opened the season going 3-3-0 over six contests in Edmonton’s Ice District. Their last time playing somewhere other than Rogers Place was exactly three weeks earlier, on Oct. 5, in Abbotsford, B.C., for a preseason game against the Vancouver Canucks.
They certainly didn’t look uncomfortable being away from home, seizing the early momentum when Puljujarvi scored on Blues goaltender Jordan Binnington just 6:07 into the first period. The ice-breaking goal was hugely important, especially considering the Oilers had fallen behind 1-0 in four of their first five games and came into St. Louis with a record of 2-0 when scoring first, and 1-3 when giving up the opening goal.
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On the road last season, the Oilers went 13-3-0 when scoring the opening goal, compared to 8-12-5 when the opponent struck first.
Oilers Forwards Make a Point
Puljujarvi’s goal was just as crucial on a personal level for the besieged forward, whose future with the Oilers has been in question throughout the offseason, into training camp, and the preseason, and especially over the last two weeks as the Finnish forward went pointless through six games to start his sixth NHL season.
Will the chatter die down now that he’s got his first goal? We’ll see. The 24-year-old tends to go hot and cold: He racked up seven goals and seven assists in the first 11 games of the 2021-22 season, while he has gone without a point in 32 of his last 43 regular season appearances dating back to New Year’s Eve of last year.
Also getting off the schneid in St. Louis was another beleaguered Oilers forward, Warren Foegele, who picked up his first point of 2022-23 when he was credited with the second assist on Puljujarvi’s tally. As he begins his second season with the Oilers, Foegele too has been a player that some dissatisfied fans would like to see sent packing.
Skinner Stands on His Head
There was one more first from Wednesday’s game, and that was a win for Skinner. The Edmonton product, who was making just his second start of the season (third appearance), was nothing short of brilliant, turning aside 37 of 38 shots on goal. Skinner’s first star-worthy performance included 19 saves in the second period when the Blues scored their only goal of the night, on the power-play off the stick of Ryan O’Reilly.
In eight-plus periods of action this season, Skinner has a sensational 1.44 goals-against average and .957 save percentage, numbers that are far superior to the netminder he’s backing up, newcomer Jack Campbell (3.62 GAA and .895 SV%). In albeit limited duty, the 23-year-old continues to look like a very good goalie, perhaps even one that would emerge as Edmonton’s No. 1 in an even competition.
No Rest for the Oilers
After such a lengthy stretch of home games, the Oilers are making up for lost time on their first road trip of 2022-23: Edmonton is right back at it again on Thursday (Oct. 27) evening, as the Oilers will go for a third straight ‘W’ and fourth victory in their last five games when they visit the Chicago Blackhawks.